Multiverse Gourmet Hunter

Time passed little by little.

After an entire hour, the plates from every stall had finally been counted.

The host received the scroll containing each competitor’s final total and stepped up to the platform.

"Ladies and gentlemen."

His clear voice carried across the square, and the crowd gradually fell silent.

"Thank you for your patience."

"The final plate totals for every participant in this year’s Guangzhou Dumpling Contest have now been checked and confirmed."

He paused, sweeping his gaze across the expectant crowd.

"We’ll now announce the final results one by one."

The host grasped the end of the scroll and slowly unrolled it.

"First, Beiyuan Restaurant."

"Final score—one hundred and fifteen plates."

Chef Liang from Beiyuan Restaurant immediately looked miserable.

Last year, his restaurant had finished with more than two hundred and sixty plates. He had put everything into improving on that result this year, only to end up with less than half his previous total.

Feeling everyone’s eyes on him, his face burned with embarrassment.

The host continued without pause.

"Next, Taotao Restaurant."

"Final score—one hundred and sixty-four plates."

Another dejected figure joined the crowd.

Taotao Restaurant’s chef clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, then let out a heavy sigh.

The host had no time to concern himself with anyone’s disappointment and moved on to the next line of the scroll.

"Next, last year’s Guangzhou Dumpling Contest champion—the Guangzhou Dumpling House."

The square quieted noticeably.

Everyone wanted to know what kind of result the reigning champion had managed this year.

Even the host hesitated when he saw the number.

He checked it again, seemingly unable to believe what was written there, before finally announcing it.

"Guangzhou Dumpling House... final score—four plates."

"Four?!"

The entire square erupted.

Countless heads snapped toward the Guangzhou Dumpling House stall.

Its head chef had already known the result, yet hearing it announced publicly still caused tears to well uncontrollably in his eyes.

"Dumpling Brothers... just you wait."

Last year’s champion had sold only four plates.

This was more than losing a competition.

The reputation of the Guangzhou Dumpling House had been utterly humiliated.

And in his mind, it was all because of the Dumpling Brothers.

At the edge of the square, beneath one of the covered arcades, Haruto leaned casually against a cool granite pillar while gently stroking the soft hair of the Ralts nestled in his arms.

Ralts had hatched less than a month ago and was currently staring curiously at the enormous crowd, occasionally rubbing its little head against Haruto’s palm.

Soft and warm.

Since the light was dim and Ralts’ silhouette vaguely resembled that of a tiny human child, no one nearby noticed anything unusual.

The host continued.

"Next—Haruto’s Temporary Dumpling Shop!"

Quite a few diners who had tasted the Golden Broth Dumplings immediately perked up.

Some even rose onto their toes, eager to hear Haruto’s final score.

The host drew in a breath and loudly announced the number.

"Final score—two hundred plates!"

The crowd did not react too strongly.

Two hundred was certainly an impressive result by this year’s standards, but compared with the totals achieved by top competitors in previous years, it was still relatively modest.

The host, however, wore a complicated expression.

After a moment’s hesitation, he added,

"There is one important detail worth mentioning."

"Chef Haruto closed his stall before noon today. His booth operated for less than two hours, yet still accumulated two hundred plates."

That immediately drew a wave of astonished reactions.

Two hundred plates in less than two hours?

If Haruto had remained open all day like everyone else, wouldn’t his total have approached a thousand?

Quite a few people simply could not understand it.

His dumplings had been incredibly popular.

Why would he throw away such a perfect opportunity by closing early?

Behind the stage, Master Lang Wen frowned when he heard the number.

"Only two hundred?"

He had personally tasted Haruto’s Golden Broth Dumplings.

In terms of flavor, they were absolutely no worse than the Dumpling Brothers’ Flame Dumplings or Mao’s pan-fried dumplings.

More importantly, Master Lang Wen had seen the endless stream of customers at Haruto’s stall with his own eyes.

No matter how he calculated it, two hundred seemed far too low.

Only after hearing the host’s explanation did realization dawn on him.

Come to think of it, he had seen Haruto standing at Yangquan Restaurant’s stall later in the day.

At the time, Master Lang Wen had assumed Haruto was simply another competing chef checking out the competition.

He had never imagined the boy had already closed his own stall and genuinely did not care whether he won the Dumpling Contest.

The host’s voice suddenly rose with excitement.

"And next, one of the most anticipated favorites of this entire competition—the Dumpling Brothers!"

"Everyone, look over there!"

The crowd followed the direction of his pointing hand.

"The Dumpling Brothers sold so many plates that only an elephant could carry them all!"

As soon as he finished speaking, heavy footsteps sounded in the distance.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Each step made the ground tremble faintly.

A massive elephant appeared, pulling a cart piled high with white porcelain plates.

The stacks rose higher than a person.

The entire square exploded into cheers.

"My god! Look at all those plates!"

"That’s insane!"

"They broke the record! They absolutely broke the record!"

The host raised the scroll high and shouted the final number with all his strength.

"The Dumpling Brothers—final score, one thousand two hundred and forty-two plates!"

"An astonishing total! They have officially broken the highest record in the history of the Guangzhou Dumpling Contest!"

Wu Xiong stood with his arms folded, unable to hide the smug satisfaction on his face.

A Lu looked equally thrilled.

The deafening cheers continued for nearly half a minute before the host finally managed to calm the audience.

He took a deep breath, steadied himself, then looked at the final line on the scroll.

"And now, we announce the final score of the last competitor in this year’s contest—Yangquan Restaurant!"

"Their total is—"

Before he could finish, another series of heavy elephant footsteps echoed through the square.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The exact same rhythm.

The exact same tremors.

Everyone whipped around.

A second elephant was approaching.

Behind it was another cart piled high with white porcelain plates, its load every bit as enormous as the first.

"There’s another elephant?!"

The host stared blankly for a moment.

Then he looked down at the number written on the scroll.

He checked it once.

Twice.

A third time.

Finally, his voice emerged trembling with disbelief.

"Yangquan Restaurant’s final score is—one thousand... two hundred... and forty-two plates!"

"The totals are exactly the same!"

"It’s a tie!"

The entire square fell into several seconds of stunned silence.

Nobody knew how to react.

Yangquan Restaurant and the Dumpling Brothers had somehow earned the exact same score?

A tie?

Nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the Guangzhou Dumpling Contest.

The smug expressions on the Dumpling Brothers’ faces froze solid.

They stared at the host on the platform in disbelief.

Everyone from Yangquan Restaurant looked equally stunned.

The host stood there clutching the scroll, suddenly at a complete loss.

None of the lines he had prepared beforehand were remotely useful anymore.

At the edge of the square, Haruto watched the scene unfold with a faint smile.

He gently rubbed Ralts’ little head again.

"Good job, Ralts."

"Raaalts..."

Ralts looked up at Haruto and gave a soft, happy cry before rubbing its head against his palm again, clearly delighted by the praise.

Despite being less than a month old, this Ralts possessed remarkable talent and had already become highly proficient with Psychic.

Moving a few plates among more than a thousand tightly packed stacks was effortless.

All it had taken was a little telekinetic adjustment, performed quietly enough that the slight difference between the original totals disappeared completely.

No one had noticed a thing.

Not even the staff members who had counted the plates three separate times found anything suspicious.

As for why Haruto had bothered?

Naturally, he wanted the tiebreaker.

He had absolutely no intention of missing Mao’s Rising Dragon Dumplings.

Haruto’s presence had already diverted a significant number of customers away from both the Dumpling Brothers and Yangquan Restaurant, changing the plate totals from how events were originally supposed to unfold.

If one side simply won outright because of that, then the tiebreaker would never happen.

And if there was no tiebreaker, Haruto would never get to taste those Rising Dragon Dumplings he had been looking forward to.

So, for the sake of good food, making sure both sides finished with identical scores was the obvious solution.

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